We are on
the island of Dominica for the first time since it experienced the
devastating Hurricane Maria in September 2017.
Maria was the first Category 5 hurricane to ever strike Dominica, and
caused catastrophic damage.
With
sustained winds of 160mph, and frequent gusts above 200mph, Maria stripped the
leaves from virtually every tree. The
high winds also took off most or all of the branches from many trees. Of course, many trees also toppled over
completely.
Something
like 90% of all houses lost their roofs, along with many schools and commercial
buildings. Dominica is a very poor
country, so resources to recover and rebuild are hard to come by.
We have been
very concerned about the fate of our friends on Dominica, and anxious to see
how the island is recovering five months after the storm. Yesterday we took a taxi tour over the
northern part of the island, and could see the damage and progress for
ourselves.
Hillsides
that used to be solid canopies of green look gray, showing the trunks of
trees. The good news is that most trees
seem to be recovering, sprouting leaves from their trunks and remaining
branches. The palm trees have grown a
few new fronds. The understory of the
forest looks almost normal, except for the downed trees littering the forest
floor.
Nearly every
farm was destroyed, and most of the crops take 6-12 months to bear fruit. Fruit trees like oranges and mangos mostly
survived, but will also take a year before the next harvest. Many farmers have turned to growing
vegetables that can bear more quickly.
We saw many freshly-tilled plots, and others in progress.
The progress
in repairing houses and buildings is remarkable. While many houses still are
covered in blue tarps, many more have been re-roofed. There are still piles of rubble and crumpled
corrugated steel panels in many places, a great deal of this has been removed
and put into holding areas. The roads
have all been cleared and temporary bridges put in place where needed.
Aid from
outside Dominica is very evident. We saw
facilities and materials from US AID, UNICEF, the UN Food Program, and several
private charities. The people here are
truly grateful for the help. They need
it.
Our driver
took us to Anse du Mé, a small fishing village on the northeast coast of the
island. There we saw two small
motorboats, perhaps 20 or 25 feet long, unloading vegetables and dairy products
that they had brought from Marie Galante, an island that belongs to Guadeloupe. Thinking about crossing the 20 miles of open
ocean in such a small boat is frightening, especially since the whole Caribbean
is experiencing large waves, 8-10 feet, at the moment. We rarely see fisherman wearing life jackets,
but all of these brave sailors had them on.
A couple had wet suits, trying stay warm as waves break over their boat. Even though it was almost sunset, both boats
returned to Marie Galante for another load, planning to return in the morning.
Prince
Rupert Bay by Portsmouth looks almost normal, at least at first glance. There are maybe 50 sailboats on moorings or
at anchor, what you would typically find at this time of year. Looking closer, you realize that nearly all
of the small restaurants on the shore are gone completely, all but one of the
dinghy docks have disappeared, the large ferry/cruise ship dock on the northern
shore is gone.
The yacht
services cooperative, PAYS, is one of the most successful in the
Caribbean. They have been working very
hard trying to rebuild the boating economy, and to get back into the rhythm that
we Yachties have so much enjoyed. They
are very glad to see the boats returning, have restarted all of their tours and
other offerings. They have resumed their
weekly benefit Barbeques, and we are looking forward to attending on Sunday. It
is wrenching to see the warm smiles, knowing that many are living in houses
with no roofs, and no electricity.
We are
heartened by the progress we have seen, while very aware of how much work
remains to be done. Mother nature is
very resilient, but it will be years before the forests are back to normal. It will be fascinating to see how things have changed when we return next year.
1 comment:
Really makes you appreciate how lucky we all are to have avoided that. Those folks are so amazing. You may even enjoy the barbecue even more this year.
Love to you both. I just returned a week ago to CH after 9 mos. in the US. Maybe you can get to RI in the summer.
Post a Comment